Stocking and method of knitting



Dec. 1, 1942'. c. A. KAUFMAN 2,304,053

' INVENTOR.

Lhaz'las'A.Kaufma/n.

A 7' TORNE Y3 W MW Patented Dec. 1, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STOCKING AND METHOD OF KNITTING Charles A. Kaufman, New York, N. Y.

Application February 19, 1942, Serial No. 431,513

14 Claims.

My present invention relates generally to a stocking toe and more particularly to the tip end .thereof and the manner of its formation.

I have chosen to disclose the principles of my invention by the manner whereby they can be employed in the formation of the toe of the well known French? foot formed from a fabric knitted full fashioned on the usual type flat machine, by a closing operation. The toe of a French foot as now generally made is characterized in that the fiat knitted full fashioned fabric of which it is formed, ends in a relatively wide straight front edge; this front edge is closed widthwise by looping, which is in addition to the bottom seam which joins the side edges (selvedges) of the fabric; the finished toe has a straight front end of substantial width; the looping presents a widthwise seam in front of and at a level approximately mid-way of the thickness ,(vertical) of the large toe and dog ears at its ends; and the toe tip is formed by bringing down the front ends of the top and bottom of the toe to the line of this widthwise seam.

My invention contemplates that the toe fabric portion to form the toe tip be 'knit and then closed so as to reflect the following observations I have made of the human toes: the tip of the large toe is located close to the longitudinal central vertical plane through the ankle; since the large toe protrudes substantially forwardly beyond the other toes, its front tip can be said to be the front of the toe assembly; and this tip of the large toe tapers forwardly to a blunted rounded end which can be aptly termed, a flat dome.

The probable explanation for the present practice of knitting the fabric for the tip of the toe of the French foot for its contour and for the manner whereby it is closed at its front edge, is that thereby the stretchability of the fabric along y the line of looping is so increased that the tip of the large toe can and does stretch the straight tion is to dispense with the line of looping and 4 the dog ears incidental thereto.

The full fashioned knitted toe fabric is a limp, flexible, distortable, web-like structure and the stocking toe formed therefrom will take any collapsed condition into which it may fall or into relatively wide front end of the finished stocking which it is put. It is only when expanded on the foot of a wearer that it can be said to take a predetermined definite shape generally referred to as fit.

It is a further general object of my invention that the fit of the tip of the stocking toe be tailored" to the tip of the large toe of the wearer in the sense which I will now explain.

The fabric from which the tip 'of the toe is to be formed in accordance with my invention, is so knitted as to its conformation and area that the toe tip when finished, shapes itself to the tip of the large toe because the fit is inherent therein and requires essentially only draping about the three dimensional object as contradis-, tinguished from. the aforementioned known practice where the 'fit is effected by and as a result of the fabric stretching, which in the known practice is a calculated element when the toe tip is formed.

Among the more important provisions in the knitting whereby I attain my aforementioned objects are:

(a) As to the fabric, the provision of an added toe tip forming fabric portion knitted beyond the line of the front edge of the toe forming fabric of the French foot of the known practice; the provision more particularly of such added fabric portion narrowed to a point and still more particularly narrowed at an accelerated rate so that the length thereof be relatively short; the provision of a front edge to said toe tip forming fabric portion which is obtusely or shallowly convex; the provision that the boundary edge about this fabric portion be selvedged throughout its length; the provision that this edge be comprised entirely of the outermost wales, and more particularly that these outermost wales meet to form a point to the fabric; the provision that the fab ric' area adjoining this bounding edge comprises wales parallel to each other and to said edges; and the provision'of a toe forming fabric portion so devised that no looping operation is required to close the toe at its tip and more particularly that the toe can be closed entirely by a single operation of seaming;

(b) As to the process of knitting the toe tip fabric portion, the practice of continuing the knitting beyond what hitherto has been the front edges of the toe fabric forming portion; the provision of knitting that fabric portion to a, relatively straight and wide front edge by a narrowing operation as heretofore and then continuing the knitting, however narrowing at an accelerated rate to bring the fabric rapidly to a point;

the provision of knitting the outermost wales convergingly to their meeting point, and more particularly, to effect this by rapid narrowing so as to cause the toe tip forming fabric portion to have the aforementioned blunt convex outline;

(c) As to the closing operation, that it be performed without looping; and that the closing operation comprise only the single operation of seaming;

(d) As to the tip of the finished stocking toe, the provision that it have a blunted conoidal configuration and when shaped on the large toe that its apex be rounded off, and more particularly, that this rounding 01f be efiected by a draping as contradistinguished from a stretching; the provision of a closed toe tip having a blunted conoidal or dome-like configuration with the seam at the bottom of the foot ending at the apex thereof; the provision in the toe of a French foot, of a predetermined length added to the toe tip end as hitherto made, knitted and closed to a dome shape to permit this added portion to drape itself about the tip of the human toe; the provision that the toe tip forming fabric comprise a central area and selvedge areas along the opposed edges of said fabric portion; the provision of a central portion and selvedge portions, all tapering to a common point; the provision of a toe tip forming fabric portion comprised of two selvedge areas and a central area with the areas tapering to a common point and with the wales of the selvedge areas parallel to the selvedges and the wales of the central area running longitudinally of the fabric portion; and the provision of a toe tip free of looping.

For the attainment of these objects and such other objects as may hereinafter appear or be pointed out, I have illustrated applications of the principles of my invention in the drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view of the toe portion of a full fashioned stocking blank illustrating an application of my invention;

Figure 2 is a view on an enlarged scale of the extreme end of the toe portion of the blank of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 of a modified construction;

Figure 4 is a view, more orless in perspective, of the blank of Figure 1, folded, preparatory to seaming;

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the toe portion of a finished stocking made from the blank of Figure l;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the toe portion of a stockingmade from the blank of Figure l as it would appear when viewed from the bottom; and

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view, illustrative of the form-fitting characteristics of my stocking. 7

A full fashioned stocking fabric and the stocking toe formed therefrom is a web-like structure which is stretchable, distortable, limp and not form sustaining. I will therefore premise that the showings in the various figures are somewhat diagrammatic, and are not intended to portray realistically precise conformations which the toe or its parts will take under any particular circumstances, and are primarily to assist in an understanding of the principles of my invention. The manner in which the wales have been shown in the various figures is an example. The wales of the fabric area within which the inventive features have been incorporated are shown by relatively heavy lines for the double purpose of defining the inventive area and also for more clearly showing the character and relation of the wales within this area. These heavier lines are not intended to indicate the use of a thicker yarn and in this respect the drawing should be read as if the wales were shown by a line of the same thickness throughout; their length.

The disclosure of my invention assumes that the knitted fabric of the embodiment of Figure 1 looks about as shown therein when the fabric has been removed from the machine and before closing, and that the finished toe forming portion is such that when it is expanded on the foot of a wearer, the conformation to which it is expanded will be normal for the manner in which the toe structure is constituted, in that any temporary stretching that may occur is merely an incidental'rather than a causative factor in that expanded conformation.

In Figure 1, I have attempted to show the structural relationship of the fabric portion of which this tip of my toe is formed by reference to a substantial portion of the fabric to the rear thereof. Figure 2 is intended to show this fabric toe forming portion on an enlarged scale and only sufiicient of the fabric to the rear thereof is shown as will be helpful to an understanding of the manner in which my toe tip forming fabric portion is knitted and closed.

F1111 fashioned hosiery, as ordinarily manufactured, employs a blank knitted full fashioned on a flat machine of the Cotton type, such as the Reading machine, to a width at its front edge so designed and calculated that when the selvedge portions are folded lengthwise down upon the central part to meet centrally along the length of the stocking foot, an equal number of needle wales are provided to permit the looping or joining of the central part. This will be understood by reference to Figure 2, where the line XAOA'X' represents the front end width of the toe forming fabric portion of the conventional practice. Its central point 0 is in the central line of the fabric and the lengths X to A, X to A, A to O and O to A are the same and present the same number of needle wales,

The looping operation is customarily performed by putting the needle wales between A and A on the looper points and folding the length XA inwardly about point A, placing the needle wales in that length on the same looper points as A to O. The same is done with respect to the needle wales in the section A to X, which are placed over those on the looper points sustaining the wales in section 0 to A, the length A to X being folded down at A. When this has been accomplished the machine may then loop the toe closed at its front end. This line of looping will extend transversely of the toe front and will be of the width from A to A.

This method of forming the toe gives a straight front edge to the toe, flexible in its web-like construction and capable of extended stretching along the line of looping to thereby enable the 'tip end of the stocking toe to be stretched into shape by and about the tip of the large toe of the wearer. The-stocking toe tip so constructed does not innately possess thesame shape as the tip end of the human toes but must be stretched to conform therewith which it can do readily because of the looping. It will be noted that in this construction the fabric between X and A and that between A and X when joined by the bottom seam underlies the lower part thereof.

From one aspect, my method of knitting and closing the toe tip can be tersely stated as differing from this conventional practice in that I do not cease knitting when the line XAAX is reached. I continue the knitting throughout additional fabric inwardly so that the extension of the selvedges S and S converge to what may be described ideally as a point, although in actual practice such amount of untransferred fabricma remain that in joining the toe selvedges, said untransferred fabric will be gathered into the seam and the toe extension may therefore be correctly described as converging to a point. It will therefore be understood that the word point as herein used is not to be construed literally or in a mathematical sense, but rather in the practical sense of accomplishing the general purposes of my invention.

By reference to Figure 2 in the drawing, it will be found that the toe forming fabric portion is bounded at the tip by selvedge sections KY and X'Y and to the rear thereof by the selvedgesections S, S and that the selvedge sect-ion XY is continuous with the selvedge section S to bound the fabric on one-side, and that the selvedge section X'Y is continuous with the selvedge section S to complete the other side edge of the fabric, that the selvedge sections KY and X'Y meet at the point Y in Figure2 to form a continuous uninterrupted selvedge about the toe tip fabric portion comprising all of the selvedge sections, and that this continuous selvedge comprises the outermost wales which meet at the point Y.

Upon reference to Figure 2, it will be observed that the selvedge length XY is at a more obtuse angle to the lengthwiseline through the fabric than is the selvedge length S, and that the same is true as to the selvedge lengths on the other side.

The knitting operation from said line XA OAX is performed as will now be set forth for the embodiment of Figure 2. Starting at X and X, the narrowing points actuated by the narrowing mechanism with which all full fashioned hosiery machines are provided, transfer inwardly the needle wales between X and A and between A and X. As said wales move inwardly across the wales in the section AA, points are likewise dropped from the narrowing fingers, thereby causing the fabric knitted subsequently from X to A and A to X to diminish in width, the traverse of the yarn carriers cooperating with the action of the narrowing fingers. As the width of the fabric subsequently knitted on A diminishes due to the narrowing, so does the width of. that fabric subsequently knitted on XA diminish proportionately with each course. This is likewise true of the fabric portion knitted to the other side on OA and'A'X. Since the same number of needles exist in XA as does in A0 at all courses in the knitting, an equal number of needles will exist in each section, the same being likewise true of 0A and A'X'. Thus when the section AO diminishes to what might be considered a point, it will be' found that section XA will likewise have diminished correspondingly, as will likewise have sections 0A and A'X'. The rows of fashion narrowings AY and AY will likewise have converged in the manner shown, as will also the selvedge extensions KY and X'Y.

In order that the toe pockets on the built up toe tip will not be too deep or angular and to prevent the formation of a segment into which the tip of the human toe will not fit, it is desirablethat the toe tip forming fabric portion be caused to fashion as rapidly as possible, the idea being tomake the length OY as short as possible. It should be noted that the narrowing AY and AY as described above can be accomplished with the usual narrowing fingers. Thus by increasing the rate of narrowing, the shortening of OY can be satisfactorily accomplished in any preferred ordesired manner.

It has already been explained that while the construction at Y has been referred to as a point that this is not to be construed literally in that the objectives of my invention may be attained even though it may comprise an amount of untransferred fabric. Furthermore as will be understood by one skilled in the art, the closing seam C of Figure 5 will take up a number of wales which will include untransferred wales at Y. This is of importance where it is desired to knit on at Y a few extra courses of run resisting material such as cotton, to prevent back ravelling. The attainment of the objectives of my invention will not be effected adversely by the presence of such untransferred fabric and of the added ravel courses provided these courses are few in number and knitted on a relatively small number of needles.

My invention contemplates that the fabric of Figure 1 be closed without looping as shown in .Figure 4, wherein the stocking fabric is shown folded midwaylengthwise thereof along a line extending beyond YO in Figure 2 preparatory to the seaming together of the selvedges SS, the seaming starting at Y if the operator wishes, and running along the selvedges SYX and S'YX to close the foot at the bottom and front all by a single seaming operation. The seaming operation may start at some other point along the selvedges terminating at one end at Y.

Figure 5 is intended to picture the toe portion of the stocking on the foot of a wearer as seen looking directly down upon the bottom of the foot to show the bottom seam C. It will be observed that the seam C and the two suture rows AY and AY meet at the point Y.

Figure 7 attempts to show the stocking expanded on the foot of the wearer but cut away longitudinally centrally of the large toe to show the conformation of my toe tip to the shape of the tip of the large toe and also that one end of the bottom seam C terminates or begins as the case maybe at point Y.

It will be understood that in one aspect, my invention directs itself specifically to the production of a toe forming fabric portion of a stocking foot wherein special provision is made to provide toe tip coverage in the form of added fabric and that the attainment of my invention is not necessarily limited or eflected by the manner in which the fabric has been knitted in advance of and up to where this added fabric portion begins to be formed. Figure 3 is a variation which attempts to illustrate this very thing because the fabric knitted beyond the lines ZBCB'-Z' and defined between thisline and the point Y is knitted exactly as has been the corresponding area of Figure 2, whereas the fabric to the rear thereof has been knitted with diamond points, which are defined by the suture rows MN on one side converging to point B at one end of suture row BY and suture rows MN' on the other side, converging to meet at point B at the other end of suture row BY'.

Reference has already been made to the fact that the seaming operation takes up a certain number of wales. This will explain the apparent dimensional inconsistencies that may app ar between the finished toe of Figures 5 and 6 and the fabric of Figure 1 from which it is formed The aforementioned added toe tip forming fabric section, and whose area is outlined in Figure 2 by wales in heavier lines, comprises three triangular sections with their apices meeting at Y. One of these sections, i. e. the section along the selvedge on one side has its base from X to A; a second section, i. e. the selvedge section on the other side, has its base from X to A; and the intermediate section has its base from A to A.

In referring to the known practice wherein the toe is closed at its front edge by a line of looping transversely thereof, the fabric of which it is formed has been described as knitted so that this front edge is comprised of the lengths X to A, and A to X and A to O and O to A and these lengths stated as equal. The same is true of the corresponding lengths of the known practice employing diamond points. In my fabric of Figure 2 I have stated that the length XA is equal to A0 and the length X to A is equal to the length of O to A. I have done this because of its correspondence to the known practice. The same is true of my showing in Figure 3. It will be undestood however that my invention can be practiced and its objectives attained even though the length from X to A is not equal to the length from A to 0 and the length from X to A is not equal to the length from A to O. The same is true of the embodiment in Figure 3. The disclosure of this equality in these lengths is therefore not to be construed in a limitative sense unless called for expressly by the language of the claims.

It will be understood that illustrated embodiments are merely exemplary and that my invention is susceptible of practical application in other ways than those herein disclosed.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The process of knitting the tip portion of the toe section of a full fashioned'fiat lmitted stocking fabric, said process comprising the step or steps of narrowing the fabric until a width is reached which is conventional for a normal looping operation to close the toe tip and then continuing the knitting operation by a narrowing of the fabric at an accelerated rate to cause the fabric to come rapidly to a point.

2. The process of knitting the tip portion of the toe section of a full fashioned flat knitted fabric, said process comprising knitting tapering selvedged stocking fabric section, the toe portion of said section being defined entirely by the outermost wales thereof, the convergence of the outermost wales being accelerated in the tip of the toe to bring said wales rapidly to a point to give a relatively blunt end to the toe tip.

4. A full fashioned flat knitted toe forming section of a stocking blank having its entire edge which defines it comprised of selvedges on each side at an angle to each other, the selvedges of the front of the tip portion meeting at a point and being at a sharper angle to each other than the selvedges of the toe portions to the rear thereof.

5. A full fashioned flat knitted stocking blank having a toe tip which comprises a central section and two selvedge sectionseach of substanportions along the selvedges and a tapering portion therebetween with the three portions tapering to a common point.

3. A full fashioned flat knitted toe forming tially triangular conformation and defined by separating rows of sutures, all three sections and the suture rows converging to a common point.

6. A full fashioned flat knitted stocking blank having a toe tip which comprises a central section and two selvedge sections each of substantially triangular conformation, all three sections converging to a common point.

7. A full fashioned flat knitted stocking blank having a toe tip which comprises a central section and two selvedge sections each of substantially triangular conformation and defined by separating rows ofsutures, all three sections and the suture rows converging substantially to a common point, the wales of each selvedge section progressively decreasing in number and running parallel to its selvedge and the wales of the central section running longitudinally of the stocking blank.

8. A full fashioned flat knitted stocking blank having a toe tip which comprises a central section and two selvedge sections each of substantially triangular conformation and defined by separating rows of sutures, all three sections and the sutures rows converging to a common point, the wales of each selvedge section running parallel to its selvedge and the wales of the central section running longitudinally 'of the stocking blank, and the base of each selvedge section being substantially one-half that of the central section.

9. In a full fashioned stocking, a toe tip portion having a conical conformation, the toe tip being closed entirely by a seam along the median line of the sole from the apex of the cone and extending rearwardly along the foot bottom and sutures also from said apex and extending rearwardly on opposite sides of said seam.

10. In a full fashioned stocking, a toe tip portion having a cone like conformation, the toe tip being closed entirely by a seam along the median line of the sole from the apex of the cone and extending rearwardly along the foot bottom and sutures also from said apex and extending rearwardly on opposite sides of said seam so as to have the stocking toe tip comprised of triangular areas all converging to apoint at said apex.

11. In a full fashioned stocking, a toe tip portion having a conical conformation, the toe tip being closed entirely by a seam along the median line of the sole from the apex of the cone and extending rearwardly along the foot bottom and sutures also from said apex and extending rearwardly on opposite sides of said seam so as to have the toe tip comprised of a triangular area engaging over the toe tip and two triangular areas joined by said seam engaging under the bottom of the toe tip.

12. In a full iashioned stocking, a toe tip portion having a flat cone like conformation, the toe tip being closed entirely by a seam along the median line of the sole from the apex of the cone and extending rearwardly along the foot bottom and sutures also from said apex and extending rearwardly on opposite sides of said seam so as to have the toe tip comprised of a triangular area forming the top of the toe tip and two triangular areas joined by said seam to complete the bottom of the toe tip, the wales oi the area united in the seam being parallel to the selvedges joined by said seam.

13. In a full fashioned stocking, a toe tip portion having a conical conformation, the toe tip 15 until the knitting being closed entirely by a seam along the median line of the sole from the apex of the cone and extending rearwardly along the foot bottom and sutures also from said apex and extending rearwardly on opposite sides of said seam so as to have the toe tip comprised of a triangular area forming the top or the toe tip and two triangular areas joined by said seam to complete the bottom of the toe tip, and the wales of the upper area running longitudinally of the stocking.

14. The tip formingportion of a full fashioned fiat knitted stocking fabric, comprising a rear section narrowed to a width conventional for a normal looping operation to close the toe tip and a tip forming section knitted therebeyond by a narrowing of the fabric at an accelerated rate ends in a point.

CHARLES A. KAUFMAN. 

